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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

September 30, 1955

This
is the last entry for the month of September 2014 - and it also happens to be
the last TUESDAY TIMELINE entry of the month. So, for today's entry, I'm prepared to make
it a really huge date in pop culture history.

Perhaps
it could be one of the most famous dates in the world of Hollywood. So famous that there was even a film made
with this date as the title.

Of
course, before we go ahead with that, we should probably take a look at some of
the other events that took place on September 30 throughout history.

1399 - Henry IV is proclaimed King of England

1791 - The first performance of Mozart's "The Magic
Flute" is first held at Freihaus-Theater der Wieden in Vienna, Austria

Well,
we're not quite going back six decades, but the date is an important one. September 30, 1955.

Interestingly
enough, that date - as I mentioned above - also happens to be the title of a
film.

Released in 1977, the movie "September 30, 1955" depicts life in a
small Arkansas town, and focused on the life of a young man named Jimmy J.

(Jimmy J. was portrayed by "The Waltons" star Richard Thomas.)

Anyway, it's not so much the town that influences Jimmy J. and his incredibly
rebellious behaviour that sees him holding up a liquor store, getting
plastered, running around the streets in his underwear, and ultimately getting
arrested and placed in jail. Rather, it
happens to be the date that all this takes place.

You
see, September 30, 1955 was a dark day in the world of Hollywood, as one of
Hollywood's rising stars was cut down in a tragic automobile accident. At the time of his death he was just
twenty-four, and his passing resonated with a lot of people - particularly with
teenagers and young adults.

It's no secret that the 1950s was sort of a conservative and conventional
decade. In fact, I sort of refer to the
1950's as the "Stepford Decade".
With everyone dressing and looking the same, the husbands going off to
bring home the bacon, wives staying home to cook, clean, and nurture, and boys
and girls simply expected to act like Wally and Beaver Cleaver or Annette
Funicello, it certainly was a decade that celebrated perfect order, perfect
families, and perfect everything.

And
honestly, it seemed as though it was perfectly boring.

Well,
back in 1955, this man laughed in the face of the cookie-cutter world of the
1950s and brought forth an aura of rebellion, mischief, and
non-conformity. And naturally,
teenagers responded well. After all,
what teenager didn't rebel against authority once in a while? I know I certainly did when I was fourteen,
fifteen.

Certainly,
this man was a rebel. He didn't quite
look like the stereotypical Hollywood heartthrob, but his confidence in front
of the screen won him many fans.

Today,
we'll be discussing the very short life of James Dean, and what kind of legacy he
left behind.

He
was born as James Byron Dean on February 8, 1931 in the community of Marion,
Indiana - the son of Winton Dean and Mildred Wilson. And James' early life was marked by an early tragedy. After moving from Indiana to California,
Dean's mother started to feel ill and rapidly lost a lot of weight from her illness. It ended up being uterine cancer, and when
James was just nine years old, his mother died of the disease. This loss hit James especially hard as he
had been really close with his mother, and often saw her as the only person in
the world "who understood him".

After
the death of his mother, his father sent him away to live with his sister, and
during his childhood, it was allegedly reported that he endured sexual abuse
from a pastor whom he had gotten close to, but nothing was ever confirmed. And although he didn't do so well in the
academic portion of high school, he was considered to be a gifted athlete and
was one of the more popular kids in his school. After graduation from high school in 1949, he enrolled in Santa
Monica College to major in pre-law, but switched to UCLA to pursue a degree in
dramatic arts, causing a falling out between him and his father. Although Dean never did finish his college
education, he knew that acting was the career he was meant to pursue, and in
1951 he made the decision to become a full-time actor.

Mind you, like most actors, he didn't become successful overnight. One of his first gigs was a commercial for
Pepsi, and he had walk-on roles in such movies as "Fixed Bayonets!"
and "Sailor Beware". To help
support himself, Dean also worked as a parking lot attendant for CBS Studios
where he met radio director Rogers Brackett, who became a mentor to him, as was
actor James Whitmore, whom Dean had met while attending one of his acting
workshops.

With
their encouragement, James Dean made the decision to relocate to New York City
to further his acting career. Again,
things were slow going. He worked as a
stunt tester for "Beat The Clock" and appeared in bit parts on random
television series. But it all paid off
when Dean was admitted to the legendary Actors Studio - at that time one of the
greatest theater schools in the United States.

Once
Dean was admitted into the school, the opportunities for him grew
exponentially. He began to make more
appearances on television, including one particular episode of the CBS series
"Omnibus" where Dean played the role of a disaffected youth who
refused to conform to standards and instead opted to march to the beat of his
own drum. Little did Dean know that
this type of part would be one that he would play at least a couple of times.

Such
as in the 1955 film "East of Eden", where Dean played the role of Cal
Trask, a man who initially seemed aloof and emotionally disturbed on the
surface, but proves to be savvy, knowledgeable, and crafty. He also discovers the family secrets buried
deep within his family and he has to deal with the fears of what he will find
out once he does discover the truth.

"East
of Eden" was the first time he took on a major lead role, and Dean
certainly did one fantastic job in the role.
Remind me to feature this film in a Saturday movie entry at some
point. It's really a good one! It's also made even more impressive when you
consider that many of Dean's scenes in the film were unscripted. Watch closely in the scene where Dean hugs
his father. That whole scene was an
ad-lib, but producers decided to keep it in the film because it looked so
professional. No wonder Dean earned
himself an Academy Award nomination for the role.

Of
course, who could also forget his role in "Rebel Without a Cause"
(another movie I want to watch for this blog), a 1955 movie which essentially
acted as a voice for teenage angst and rebellion. The film certainly went against the idea of how teenagers were
supposed to act back then, and certainly Dean's portrayal of Jim Stark seemed
to bring that message out loud and clear.
His devil-may-care attitude towards life shook up the school in which he
had just arrived at as a new student, and the mayhem that follows. Again, I want to wait until a Saturday entry
to talk more about this...but if you want a short summary of what you can
expect to see in the film, you could watch Paula Abdul's video for "Rush
Rush", which re-enacts scenes from that film.

James
Dean also did a lot of preparation for what would become his third and final
film, "Giant". Playing a
supporting role alongside Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson, Dean played the
part of Jeff Rink, a man who made a fortune in Texas oil. Because Dean had to play the part where Rink
aged from young to old, Dean dyed his hair gray and shaved part of it off to
make him appear as if he were losing his hair!
And once again, Dean was nominated for an Academy Award for his
performance.

Sadly, he didn't live long enough to savour the nominations. Nor did he live long enough to see the
premieres of two of the three films he made.

Prior
to September 30, 1955, Dean had developed a love of auto racing - likely
inspired by his role on "Rebel Without a Cause", in which his
character did a lot of street racing.
He even entered the Palm Springs Road Racers competition in March 1955,
and performed quite well (finishing first overall on day one, and second
overall on day two). However, knowing
how dangerous a career that auto racing was, Warner Brothers (the studio that
produced "Giant") banned him from doing any more auto racing until
after production wrapped up.

Still,
Dean could not resist driving fast cars.
Tragically, his love of fast cars prematurely and permanently ended his
career. Shortly before six o'clock on
the evening of September 30, 1955, Dean's Porsche 550 Spyder collided head on
with a 1950 Ford Tudor being driven by
23-year-old college student Donald Turnupseed. At the time of the impact, Dean had been driving the Spyder with passenger
Rolf Wutherich, a man who had helped Dean build his car for the Palm Springs
racing event.

Turnupseed
survived the impact, as did Wutherich.
Dean was not so fortunate.
Because Dean was traveling at approximately eighty-five miles per hour
at the time of the accident, Dean's Spyder flipped completely up in the air
before landing in a gully on its wheels.
Dean sustained a broken neck, a crushed left foot, and extreme internal
and external injuries. An ambulance was
immediately called, but Dean died on arrival just a few minutes after the
crash.

He
was just 24.

His
funeral was held eight days later with reportedly over 600 mourners in
attendance with another 2,400 people gathered outside the building during the
funeral procession.

Dean's
star may have burned out long before it was really supposed to, but you could
also argue that it shone brighter than anyone else's. It's hard to say what would have happened had Dean not died. If he were still alive, he would be 83
today. I could easily imagine him
continuing his acting career and making himself a true member of Hollywood
royalty. It's really hard to predict
how he would have fared through the decades.
But one thing he did have was talent and a lust for life.